Bat-forming machine



2 Sheets-Sheet l BAT FORMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 5l, 1927 CCL 29, 1929 J.B. ROBERTSON ET AL Oct. 29, 1929. J. B. ROBERTSON ET Al. 1,733,170

BAT FORMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 51. 1927 2 sheets-sheet 2 BY MICA/AungATTGRNEY Patented Oct. 29, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAMES BAXTERROBERTSON, F PATERSON, AND GEORGE ROBERTSON, OF RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY,ASSIGNORS T0 THE PARATEX CORPORATION, 0I' PATEBSON, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY BAT-FORMING MACHINE Application led December31, 1927. Serial No. 243,798.

This invention relates to mechanical eley ments and particularly tooperating elements ginning and end of the carriage travel and forcontinuously moving `the conveyer of a blamire such as may be used inconnection with garnetting machines for forming a bat of the fiber foruse in the manufacture of textiles or rugs.

Blamires ordinarily consist o a carriage which moves back and forthbeneath a feeding conveyer which delivers fiber from a garnettingmachine or other device in the form of a layer. The blamire carries aconveyer movable at right angles to the feeding conveyer so that thefiber is delivered to the conveyer of the blamire in overlapping layersplaced on the conveyer in a zig-zag manner. Ordinarily the movement ofthe blamire conveyer is effected by means of a slotted lever connectedto the blamire carriage and engaging a stationary pin. The movement ofthe carriage back and forth thus causes the blamire conveyer to be movedforwardv during a portion of the movement of the blamire. However, sincethe angle of the lever'l with reference to the carriage is smalLat thebethe lever moves lengthwise relative to the pin, the conveyer is movedslowly or not at all at the endsof the carriage travel and relativelyfast during the center portion of its travel with the result that thebat is considerably thicker at the edges than in the middle. It isimportant that the movement of the blamire conveyer be governed by themovement of the blamire in order that every portion of the bat of fiberproduced may be of uniformthickness.

One of the objects of thepresent invention is to form a bat of uniformthickness throughout.

Another object of the invention is to in,

crease the speed of operation of blamire machines. Another ob]ect of theinventionA is to operate the blamire conveyer continuously as long asthe blamire is in motion. A further object of the invention is toprovide simple mechanical elements which will convert oscillatory motioninto continuous.

motion in one direction.

An outstanding feature of theinvention resides in a mechanicalconnection between the shaft carrying the wheels which sup ort theblamire and the blamire conveyer, which causes the blamire conveyer tobe moved forward at all times when the blamire is in motion.' p

Another feature of the invention resides in the use of two oppositelyfaced' ratchets for converting an oscillating motion into continuousmotion in-one direction.

Other important features and objects of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description anddrawings, in which Figure 1 is a planview of a blamire machine embodying the present invention;

Figure 2` is a vertical sectional view of the device shown in Figure 1taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detailed view of certain parts of the driving mechanism;

' Figure 4 is a plan view of the mechanism illust'rated in Figure 3; and1 Figure 5 is a detailed view taken on the line 5-f5 of Figure 3.

The invention as illustrated in the drawings comprises a garnetting orsimilar machine having a feeding conveyer 1 for delivering fiber in alayer to be spread upon the conveyer 3 of the blamire 4. The layer of'liber passes over the end of the feed conveyer 1 and between thepositively driven rollers 5 and 6. The feed conveyer may be supportedfrom above or in'ay suitable manner and is stationary with reference tothe garnetting machine 2; The blamire 4 is supported upon wheels 7running upon a track 8 and is designed to move backward and forwardbeneath the feed conveyer toward and away from the garnetting-machine 2.The oscillating motion of the blamire 4 is effected by means of the rod10 secured to the blamire carriage at the point 11 theopposite end ofthe rod being attached at the point 12 to a chain 13 passed over gears14 and 15 and positively operated by means of a gear 16 of thegarnetting machine 2: As the upper portion of the chain 13 moves to theright, the blamire 4 is moved outwardly away from the garnetting machine2, and as the point 12 of the chain 13,

sus`

to which the rod 10 is secured asses around the gear 15 and moves to thele t, the blamire 4 is drawn toward the garnetting machine 2 until thepoint 12 in the belt 13 reaches the gear 14. As the blamire 4reciprocates in this manner beneath the feed conveyer 1 the wheels 7supporting the blamire are moved first in one direction and then in thereverse direction. The blamire conveyer 3 upon which the layer of fiberfrom the feed conveyer 1 is deposited is moved in a direction at rightangles to that of the feed conveyer 1, as shown in Figure 1 of thedrawings.

The movement of the blamire conveyer 3 is effected by means of bevelgears 18 and 19 which are mounted so as to rotate freely upon the shaft20, to which the wheels 7 are secured. The bevel gears 18 and 19 meshwith a drive gear 21 from which a belt or-chain y 22 extends to a gear33 for moving the conveyer 3. The. loosely mounted gears 18 and 19 arecaused to rotate with the shaft 20 by means of spring pressure ratehets23 mounted in the supports 24 and 25 which are rigidly secured to theshaft 20by means of screws or pins 26. Thus, as the shaft 2() rotates inone direction, the ratchet 23 mounted in the support 24 rotates with theshaft and engages the "teeth of a pawl 27 formed integral with the gear18. When the blamire has reached the end of its outward movement and ismoved backward toward the garnetting machine 2, the rotation of thewheels 7 and the shaftL 20 is opposite to itsprevious motion and theratchet 23 in the support 24 moves backward over the teeth of the pawl27 without rotating the gear 18. The gear 19, however. is then rotatedin a direction opposite to the previous movement of the gear 18 byreason of the oppositelv-faced ratchet 23 in the support 25 whichengages the paw] 28 formed integral with the gear 19. The gear 19 ispositioned on the opposite side of the gear 21 from gear 19 so that therotation of gear 21 is continuous in one direction. Thus, it is seenthat when the shaft 20 rotates in one direction the gear 18 ispositively driven from the shaft 20 to cause the conveyer 3 to be movedin the .direction of the arrow in Figure 3, and when the shaft 2Orotates in the opposite direction the gear 19 is rotated in the oppositedirection from that in which the -gear 18 was previously operated butsince the gear 19 is on the opposite side of the gear 21 the rotation ofthe gear 21V will be continuous and in a counter-clockwise direction, asshown in Figure 3. In this wav` as the blamire is given a reciprocatingmotion and the shaft 20 upon-which the wheel 7 supporting the blamireare mounted is moved in first one direction and then in the other, thegear 33 Ewhich is driven from gear 21 to move the convevor 3 is givencontinuous movement in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 3. Thebat of fiber 35 laid upon the blamire one direction.

The mechanical elements presented in the present invention may haveother applications than for use in a blamire and it is not 'intended bythe foregoing illustrative embodiment of the device to restrict theinvention to the specificform set forth in the foregoing description.

What is claimed as new is: 1. A bat forming machine comprising a feedingconveyer, acarriage supported upon rotatable means, means for movingsaid carriage back and forth beneath said feeding conveyer, a conveyeron said carriage and means connected with said rotatable members formoving the conveyer carried by said carriage forward when said carriageis moved in either direction.

2. A bat forming machine comprising a feeding conveyer, a carriagelocated beneath said-feeding conveyer and mounted upon rotatable meanssecured to a shaft, means for moving said carriage with reference tosaid feeding conveyor, a conveyer on said carriage and means driven fromsaid shaft for moving forward the conveyor on said carriage.

3. A bat forming machine comprising a feeding conveyer, a blamirelocated beneath said feeding conveyer and movable back and forth atright angles to said feeding conveyer, said blamire being mounted uponrotatable means secured to a shaft, a blamire conveyer on said blamire,-means driven from said shaft for moving said blamire conveyer forwardwhen said blamire is moved in one direction and separate means formoving said conveyer forward when said blamire is moved in the oppositedirection.

4. A bat forming machine comprising a feeding conveyer, a blamirelocated beneath said feeding conveyer and movable back and forthat-right angles to said feeding conveyer, said blamire being mountedupon rotatable means secured to a shaft, a blamire conveyer on saidblamire, ratchet means driven from said shaft for moving said blamireconveyer forward when said blamire is moved in one direction, and asecond ratchet means for moving said conveyer forward when said blamireis moved in the opposite direction.

5. A bat forming machine comprising a feeding conveyer, a blamirelocated beneath said feeding conveyer and movable back and forth atright angles to said feeding conveyer, said blamire being mounted uponrotatable means secured to a shaft, a blamire conveyer on said blamire,gears loosely mounted upon said shaft and a ratchet and pawl connectionbetween each of said ears and said shaft and a driving connection etweensaid gears and said blamire conveyer so that as said blamire l' is movedin one direction one of said gears will rotate with said shaft to movesaid blamire conveyer forward and when said blamire -moves in theopposite direction another of said gears will be connected wlth saidshaft to move said blamire conveyer forward.

6. A bat forming machine com rising a feeding conveyer, a blamire locatebeneath saidfeedin conveyer and movable back and forth at right anglesto said feeding conveyer, said blamlre. being mounted upon rotatablemeans secured to a shaft, a blamire conveyer on said blamire, gearsloosely mounted upon said shaft and a ratchet and awl connection betweeneach of said gears an said shaft, and a drive gear positioned betweensaid gears 'for moving said blamire conveyer so'that as said blamire ismoved in one direction one of said gears will rotate with said shaft tomove said blamire conveyer forward and when said blamire moves in theopposite direction another of said gears will be connected with saidshaft to move said blamire conveyer forward.

Signed at Paterson, N. J., this 15th syof s December, 1927. GEORGEROBERTSON.

JAMES B. ROBERTSON.

